Dive Brief:

• In Washington state, the Kent School District's STAR (Student Technology Access & Resources) program installs touchscreen kiosks that showcase general school information and double as WiFi hubs in housing communities that are the most likely to lack Wi-Fi. 
• Each kiosk provides Wi-Fi within a 75-foot radius, and the mission is to simultaneously increase parent and community engagement while providing web access to students outside the classroom, district web and applications team member Joelle Bejarano writes for eSchool News.
• Funding for the Wi-Fi kiosks comes in part from local businesses, which sponsor them and can advertise on kiosk screens. 

Dive Insight:

By providing a low-cost way for students who lack Wi-Fi to gain access at home, the district seems to have hit a home run. Not only is Kent making tech equitable, but also making sure that its successful 1:1 device initiative can be fairly utilized by all. Moving forward, the district has plans to unveil new videos on the kiosks in the five most popular languages other than English that are spoken in the district.